


Unconditional Love

by nazangel



Series: Carry On Countdown 2019 [20]
Category: Carry On Series - Rainbow Rowell
Genre: Aunt-Nephew Relationship, Boys In Love, Father-Son Relationship, Friendship, M/M, Male-Female Friendship, Other, Parent-Child Relationship, Sleeping Curse, this is based on once upon a time emma and henry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:55:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21852553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nazangel/pseuds/nazangel
Summary: Baz is put under a sleeping curse'Unconditional Love is The Price'This is based on Once Upon a Time.
Relationships: Fiona Pitch & Tyrannus Basilton "Baz" Pitch, Malcolm Grimm & Tyrannus Basilton "Baz" Pitch, Penelope Bunce & Simon Snow, Tyrannus Basilton "Baz" Pitch/Simon Snow
Series: Carry On Countdown 2019 [20]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1554211
Comments: 2
Kudos: 82
Collections: Carry On Countdown 2019





	Unconditional Love

**SIMON  
**

It happened so fast. One minute we were talking, discussing Baz's family and the spells I could finally learn, and then the next Baz was on the ground with a nymph standing over him.

"Unconditional Love is the price," she said before disappearing back into the trees.

I tried to call his name, to shake him awake.

Nothing worked.

xxx

After the humdrum was defeated, the magic returned slowly, including my own. Except it was normal this time. I could cast the spells I had been trying for the last eight years of my life.

Of course, it wasn't perfect. My classmates had a much better grasp on magic then I did. But it was something and I was making good progress. Even Penny's mum seemed impressed with me, usually an impossible task.

Baz and I have had planned on having a quiet term. We were going to go on dates, snog in our room and spend time making up for the last several years of stupidity.

The plan did not include my boyfriend being in a magical coma.

"You didn't try anything magical?" asks Dr. Wellblove

"No," I say, "I didn't want to mess anything up,"

Penny and her mum choose that moment to walk through the door.

Penny quickly makes her way toward me, putting a supportive arm around me.

"Physically he's fine," says Dr. Wellblove, "This is all magical. I'll put in a line to give him proper nutrition but the spell needs to break for him to wake up,"

"I called his family," says Headmistress Bunce, "Malcolm and Fiona will be here soon,"

Penny squeezes my hand and gives me a reassuring look.

It doesn't help.

Dr. Wellblove nods.

"There isn't much I can do here. The nurse will be able to take care of the few physical needs he will have. I think I should probably take my leave. I'll come back to check on him tomorrow or the day after,"

"I'll walk you out, Welby," says Headmistress Bunce

He nods and turns toward me, "Take care, Simon,"

I mumble a quick thanks without looking at him.

As soon as they leave I take a seat next to Baz and take his hand in mine. Penny mutters a few words and waves her hand, making a small table with a stack of books to appear in front of her.

She smiles at my questioning look.

"I figured we could do our research in here," she says, "Since you probably want to stay with Baz,"

Times like these make me extra glad for a friend like Penny. I don't know what I'd do without her.

"You mentioned that the nymph said something about unconditional love, right?"

"Yeah, Unconditional Love is the Price," I tell her

"Okay," she says, "We focus on sleeping spells that involve the aspect of love. And let's try to start with Non-Mage ones. I don't think nymphs like to use the same magic as us,"

I resultantly let go of Baz's and come to sit beside Penny. It's a tedious process. There's not a lot to go on. It's not as if someone sat down with a nymph and wrote down their magical process. All we have to go on are previous incidences. Each one is different with its own scenario and it's really hard to connect the dots. Or even find them.

I'm two books in when the door opens and the headmistress comes in with Fiona and Malcolm.

Fiona is instantly at me, rapidly asking questions that I can't keep up with. I'm just about to snap at her when Malcolm puts an arm on her back, effectively shutting her up.

He murmurs something and Fiona takes a deep breath. As they talk, I take a moment to look at them. They both look ruffled like they dropped everything to come here, which they most likely did. Malcolm's wearing one of his 'business' suits, probably left a meeting. Fiona obviously left a date or an early night out. She looks angry with a touch of panicked. Malcolm, on the other hand, looks calm and unbothered as if his son isn't lying in a coma.

It makes anger twist in my gut.

How can he so...so unfeeling about this?

"Simon," whispers Penny, "Stop it. Stop the face,"

"But-"

"Simon!" she hisses

"Okay," I mutter

Once they're done, Fiona goes to sit by Baz while Malcolm comes toward us.

"Tell me," he says, "From the beginning,"

I comply and start from the beginning. From out topics of conversation to the nymph's words and Dr. Wellblove's assessment. Penny's mum chimes in here and there.

In the end, Malcolm nods, "You're doing good with the research but let's make it more focused,"

With his and headmistress Bunce's help, we narrow the search down more to scenarios of nymphs 'helping' Mages or make trades. I'm not sure why those things are important but Penny's making 'this makes sense face' to so I go along with it. Some time in, Fiona joins us too. Headmistress Bunce has to leave to attend to her other duties.

We keep looking for hours.

Eventually, Penny pulls up one solution.

"True Love's Kiss," scoffs Fiona, "What is this? A fairy tale?"

"The way it goes, the Mage needed to be awoken by the person who loved him best with their most common confession. And well, kissing someone is a pretty big confession so it worked,"

Everyone turns to looks at me.

"You-you really think- I mean we've only been together for-"

"It doesn't hurt to try, Snow," says Fiona and this time her eyes are a little more gentle.

I take a deep breath.

"Okay,"

Slowly I walk toward Baz's bed. I take his hand and bend down to gently place a kiss on his lips.

It didn't work. So I tried again. This time I let my lips linger there a little longer.

Nothing. My heart sinks.

"Simon," I hear Penny call my name softly

I turned back toward the others in the room. Penny is looking tired and sorry. Fiona looks disappointed. Malcolm looks disappointed too and...a little relieved.

I can't take it anymore.

So I run out before I say something I'll regret later.

I don't know where I'm going. As long as it's far away from the heart-wrenching sight of my sleeping boyfriend.

xxx

Penny finds me later, sitting close to Ebb's old place.

"Hey," she says, coming to sit by me

"Hey," I answer

She takes my hand and squeezes it gently, silent in her support. I rest my head on her shoulder and let my tears fall. Once I've cried as much as I could, she helps me up and takes me to my room. In there I have another crying fit and I collapse on Baz's bed, sobbing my heart out. She just sits beside me and rubs my back.

Eventually, the tears stop and I let sleep overtake me.

xxx

Refreshed from my nap and feeling a lot more centred, I headed for Baz's room. Penny was still asleep. I figured I should leave her there.

When I got close to the room, I hear people taking in hushed voices.

It sounded like Malcolm and Fiona

Despite my better judgement, I quietly moved until I'm standing in right outside the door.

"It's not fair," I hear Malcolm say with a little hitch in his voice, "Why do these things always happen to him. He doesn't deserve this,"

"I know Malcolm,"

"He's a good boy. Does his best. Smart. Intelligent. Wonderful. It's not _fair_ ,"

I hear Fiona sigh, "I know Mal,"

There's a sound that suspiciously sounds like a sob and my stomach churns with guilt.

I shouldn't have thought Malcolm was indifferent to Baz. I definitely shouldn't be standing out here.

I don't want to just walk away either so I straighten my back and lightly knock on the door frame.

Fiona looks up at me while Malcolm discreetly rubs under his eyes, probably trying to wipe away any tears.

"Oh, hi," I say, "I can come back later if-"

Fiona shakes her head, "No Simon, it's okay. Malcolm and I should be getting something to eat anyway. We skipped dinner,"

I nod and she genty tugs her brother-in-law out of there. Malcolm gives me a small nod as he leaves.

His eyes are so empty, they make me involuntarily shudder.

Once they're gone, I sit down and take Baz's hand in mine.

If I didn't know better, I would think he was just sleeping. His expression is peaceful and his breathing is steady. It reminds me of the first time we had fallen asleep in the same bed. How I had fallen asleep the sound of his breathing.

"Hey, Baz," I say, "It's me. Simon. But you probably know that and if you were here you would call me an idiot for rambling,"

I take a deep breathe, "I love you. I do. But apparently it's not enough to wake you up and I'm sorry. I'm so sorry,"

I ramble on for a little longer, glad that there's no one else in the room to hear me. Once I run out of words, I just sit there, gently stroking his hand and watching his beautiful face.

A knock startles me and I turn to see Malcolm standing at the entrance.

"Do you mind if I come in?" he asks

"Um-yeah-sure, come in,"

He walks toward us and sits on Baz's other side, taking his hand.

"I can leave if-" I start

He shakes his head, "Don't worry. It's fine,"

"Can I ask you something," I say eventually

"Go ahead,"

"When I kissed Baz and he didn't wake up, I don't know- I might be imagining it, but you looked a little, I guess, relieved? Why?"

Malcolm nods, "Look, if that had woken him up, I would have been happy. Ecstatic. But I also would have been concerned,"

He takes pause and then continues.

"When we were in our seventh year, Natasha and I did a project on that spell. Those two Mage's that first used True Love's kiss, they had also used a few very dangerous spells on themselves previously. They had done a mind-melding spell, gave each other the power to summon the other whenever they wanted. There were also so many others. By the end, they were basically one person. That's not true love or love of any kind, really. That's not even healthy and as you can imagine that's not what I want for my son,"

"What do you want for him?"

"Someone that makes him happy," he says with a smile, "Someone that puts him first, someone who will stand by him through thick and thin,"

He smiles at me.

"You get the picture,"

"Yeah," I say nodding. I wonder what he thinks of me being with his son.

"You know," he says, "I trust my son's judgement. I'm sure you and he will have many years together,"

I nod, trying to keep down the wave of emotion that's bubbling up inside of me. This is not the direction I had expected this conversation to go.

xxx

In the morning, I walk back to the infirmary from my room. I had wanted to stay with Baz but the adults had put their metaphorical foot down. I had made them promise to get me if anything happened.

I had only gotten a few hours of sleep but still felt refreshed. The breakfast of scones had helped too.

Now I was ready to dive in another stack of books to find a spell to wake Baz up.

Everyone is already in the room, including Dr. Wellblove and Headmistress Bunce. Malcolm and Fiona are sitting beside Baz, neither of them looks like they got wink of sleep last night.

Penny waves me over to the table and I slide into the chair beside her.

"He's fine," says Dr. Wellblove, "Just as he was yesterday. His physical health isn't being impacted by this curse,"

"He's just asleep," says Fiona

"I guess we just have to keep looking," says the headmistress

"We already tried true love's kiss though,"

"But apparently it wasn't true enough," I mutter

Penny squeezes my hand, "Don't feel bad, Simon. The nymph said unconditional love, right? You love Baz, but it has conditions,"

I'm about to protest when she shakes her head.

"You wouldn't love him if was an axe murderer or if he hurt me or someone else you cared about,"

I take a moment to think about it and realize she's right. I love Baz for his core values and personality and while some differences wouldn't change a thing, if he started murdering people tomorrow, would I love him? Probably not.

"But then that's all love. What do we do with that? It just sounds hopeless," I say

The room goes silent at that. No one says anything or looks at each other.

Headmistress Bunce is the one to break the silence.

"Okay, those of us who are rested will continue the research and those of us who are tires will get some sleep. I'm looking at you, Malcolm,"

"I'm not-"

"Don't make me call you wife, Grimm,"

Malcolm looks her exasperated, she just raises her eyebrows at him.

He sighs, "Fine,"

To my surprise, he doesn't get up instantly but leans down to press a kiss to Baz's forehead.

The reaction is instant.

A wave of magic moves through the room.

Baz's eyes open up.

For a moment everyone freezes but then Fiona and Malcolm are pulling a confused looking Baz into their arms.

"Wha- Father, Fiona, what's going on,"

Neither one of them answer juts hug him tighter.

"Well, they do say a parent's love is unconditional," murmurs Dr. Wellblove

"Can't believe I didn't think of it," says Penny

"I'm going to go let Niall and Devin, know," says the headmistress

On the bed, Fiona moves away and gestures for me to come over.

As I get closer, Malcolm removes one arm to give me room.

"I didn't think you would wake up," I say, burying my head in his shoulder.

"I am still so confused," says Baz

Everyone chuckles.

"Later, boyo," says Fiona, "We're just glad you're back,"

Baz obviously figures the easier way is to go along with. He just nods and sinks into our hug again.

**BAZ**

I'm in the infirmary and my father and Simon are hugging me at the same time. Fiona's also there looking a few moments away from tears herself.

I'm confused. I have two crying people on my shoulders and I have no idea why. I don't even know how I got here.

But the hugs are nice though.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed!


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